Every field has its own trends. Landscape design is no exception, which is also subject to changeable fashion trends. Every year, experts try to offer all new options for decorating plots. They reflect not only the mood of the present, but also the views of the masters, their amazing abilities and talent.
General information
Landscape design can be considered a concept known for a long time. Previously, it was used when it came to decorating fairly large land areas or public areas, including parks. But today, in this regard, the situation has changed quite dramatically. For contemporaries, landscape design has become relevant in many cases. And first of all, specialists in this field are in demand among private traders who buy large areas of land to build a house on it.
Landscape design in such cases should be thought out very competently so thatevery corner of the site is involved. Many home gardens today contain interesting decor items, they are, from a design point of view, luxurious and rich. Modern landscaping styles make it possible to transform areas into trendy and original places. But in order to get such a wonderful garden, you need to invest a lot of serious work and costs, including not only financial, but also temporary. The specialist must first of all decide on the style, conduct an irrigation system, choose materials for paving paths, plants, fences and much more. The right approach to the design of the territory is a guarantee that the personal plot will turn out to be a truly unique place.
Landscape Design Styles
The choice of direction primarily depends on the area of the land. If the territory is small, then chic massive monumental compositions will be out of place on it. Moreover, when designing, it is necessary to take into account the degree of natural lighting in the backyard. To date, a sufficient number of a wide variety of styles of landscape design is known. Most often, experts use country, Provence, Scandinavian, landscape. No less popular are rustic and regular styles in landscape design. Each of them has its own history, features, forms and purposes.
The homestead territory is perceived by many as a personal corner of nature. After all, spending enough time in the air allows a person to relieve stress, refresh thoughts andelevate mood. Therefore, a beautiful and at the same time functional arrangement of the backyard territory can confidently be called a guarantee both for peace of mind and for a great pastime. In this article we will talk about what constitutes a regular style in landscape design, the photo of which is presented below. It has already gained great popularity not only in Europe, but also in our country, so many will be interested in getting to know this direction better.
Features
This way of decorating a personal plot will be an ideal solution for those people who love symmetry and prefer to see order in everything. The regular style in landscape design implies the presence of many clear compositions that are made in the form of ideal figures and geometric lines. It is more suitable for large areas. Only the presence of a large-scale territory makes it possible to demonstrate all the features of a regular or French garden.
Regular style in landscape design: description
There are no small things in this direction. The regular style involves taking into account even the slightest nuances, which should be very subtly in harmony with the overall image of the site. There is a clear layout here. At the same time, you need to know that arranging a garden in a regular style is not as easy as it seems: such work requires a lot of time and effort, and caring for it is quite laborious. However, the result fully pays for everything. A garden in a regular style, laid out on a country plot, will resemble a real park. French aristocrats. At the same time, every detail and image in it must be thought out to the smallest detail. The regular landscape style in the garden can be recognized by the symmetrical planting of shrubs and trees, the correct geometric contours, straight alleys or paths, the clarity and regularity of the compositions, the complex parterre, the pronounced center line, as well as the many-sided water elements and numerous sculptures. All this gives the formal park orderliness and sophistication with notes of grandeur and solemnity. The French regular style is the exact opposite of the naturalness that is expected in an English or landscape garden.
History of occurrence
Initially, the process of formation of garden and park art was strongly influenced by the prevailing views and state structure of the country, as well as the type of thinking of the ruler. They set the tone for landscape design. After all, gardens and parks, in which the utilitarian function did not have a leading role, at that time only the richest people allowed themselves to have.
Regular landscape style has a very long history. It originates from the ancient Romans, who, by contrasting the aesthetics of geometric shapes with the natural environment, reached a high level in this art. In ancient Rome, plastic and floral compositions were combined with fountains and cascades. The landscaping art of this mighty empire at that time used almost the entire arsenal of ornamental gardening known today. Historically, the regular style garden was a place for processions and walks, as well as for sitting.
Flourishing
It was widely used in France in the seventeenth century. The regular style at that time was used to create parks and gardens, laid out at palaces or castles. It is closely associated with the name of King Louis XIV. The formal or regular style reached its heyday in the 17th century, in the era of the apogee of absolutism. Therefore, it is also called French.
Regular gardens and parks, due to their compositional complexity, were mainly used to decorate castles and palaces and were designed to additionally emphasize the monumentality and splendor of elite ensembles. A huge contribution to the formation and development of this style was made by Andre Le Nôtre, the court gardener of Louis XIV. It is he who is the author of unique landscape solutions in such famous parks as Versailles, Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, etc. One of the most striking examples is the country residence of Louis XIV - Versailles. The magnificent palace is the center of the composition, from which straight, well-groomed alleys and evenly trimmed lawns diverge. Each regular-style flower garden occupies a thoughtful place allotted for it.
All this has turned the Versailles Park into a delightful piece of paradise with intricately trimmed trees and shrubs, magnificent flowerbeds, and a brilliant expanse of artificial ponds. Louis IV thus sought to once again demonstrate his power, not only over his subordinates, but also overnature itself.
Implementation methods
French or regular landscape style is often considered a model of European classics. However, many call it sunny and artsy, avant-garde and even pretentious. After all, the French or regular style of the park suggests anything but ease of care. Aesthetics with expressiveness are the main tasks. This feature of this trend in landscape design can be traced in modern incarnations.
The main elements of the French garden are the parterre, including the lace parterre, the flowerbed in a regular style, parterre lawn, topiaries and flower beds.
The dominant color of any regular garden is green. Neatly cut lawns and other varieties of topiary art are like frames and backgrounds for “playing” with symmetry and geometry. Green tunnels connecting flower beds and lawns, framing trimmed borders and clipped hedges around the perimeter, the entwined facade of the building, numerous topiaries in the form of spheres, pyramids, etc. - all this should dominate the design of the landscape.
The main element is the parterre - an open part of the garden, divided into sections with regular shapes, most often separated by sandy paths. It may contain patterned ornaments collected from low or sheared ornamental plants in combination with coarse-grained sand of different shades, gravel, etc. The word "parterre" is formed from the French par and terre, meaning "on the ground." It can be floral, lawn and lace.
Scale
Regular style basicallywas used to decorate the territories of castles of palaces and castles, which can hardly be called modest. Therefore, such gardens are traditionally associated with scale. They are intended primarily for long walks, so that new views constantly appear before your eyes and picturesque paintings alternate. It is quite difficult to organize this in a small area, besides, numerous decorative elements will clutter up and therefore burden the space.
In addition, a mandatory requirement for the implementation of a regular style in the design of the garden is a flat, even area, without the presence of relief irregularities. And this requires extensive earthworks.
Geometric
The regular style of landscape design is characterized primarily by axial composition. Most often, the main structure in the garden acts as an axis of symmetry. Straight lines coming from it allow you to streamline the space and emphasize the impact on nature. This style does not allow any randomness. The main element of a regular garden is the stalls - an open part of the territory with lawns, borders, flower beds and flower beds, consisting of regular-shaped plots. The main background for flower beds and tapeworms - parterre lawn - requires especially careful care, since it is he who is considered the face of the park. A characteristic feature of a regular garden is ornamental flower beds with intricate patterns and compositions, which are particularly difficult not only in design, but also in subsequent care. Withouta professional is indispensable in this case. The center of a flower arrangement is often a fountain or sculpture.
Hedges, topiary and ponds
When zoning a regular garden, arches, hedges, pergolas and trellises are widely used. One of the best decorations are considered topiary figures created by cutting trees and shrubs and giving them various shapes. An obligatory element of a regular or formal garden is a pond with a clear coastline. Its shape can be in the form of a square, circle or rectangle. The pond should be framed by vegetation planted in a strict order.
Plants and materials used
The decorativeness of a regular garden, if possible, should be maintained throughout the year. Therefore, experts prefer evergreens. To create picturesque vaults, liana or ivy is most often used. Perfectly fit into the regular style and monogardens, which consist of only one type of plant, for example, rose gardens, sirenaria or iridaria. As a rule, in such a garden it is customary to use plants that have decorative foliage. Another selection criterion is the longest flowering.
Trees that are cut into interesting shapes are yew, privet, thuja, boxwood, barberry and juniper. However, experts recommend not to get carried away: it is enough to use two or three types in compositions.
The flower garden should have classic strict forms. Such a French garden is also characterized byarabesques. Moreover, a flowerbed in a regular style should consist only of undersized plants, for example, bright subulate phlox, lobelia, coleus or ageratum.
Parterre
A garden in a regular style has an obligatory element: parterre - a single ceremonial composition consisting of flower beds, lawns and a pond. He is the face of the garden. A real front parterre should occupy a large space, so that the whole whole composition can be seen only from the top floor of the house. However, today simple options have become widespread, which are often performed next to private houses or cottages. We are talking about a well-groomed lawn of the correct form, limited around the perimeter by a border or green flower beds.
Recommendations
A garden in a regular style, as you know, should have a large area. Nevertheless, some elements of this direction of landscape design can be used in small areas. For example, a regular plot style can be obtained by creating flower beds decorated with trimmed shrubs. They do not require a large space, but the bushes arranged symmetrically will affect the style of the garden.
If a gazebo is provided on the site, then it is recommended to use forged metal or even wooden decorative carved elements in its design. Similar fragments will be appropriate for fences. A good option as an element of a regular style on the site would be a cast fence, made in a classic strict manner.
